Date of action: 15 September 1916 (near Flers, France)
Date of award: 14 June 1917 (posthumous award)
Sergeant Donald Brown was the 1NZEF’s first VC winner on the Western Front. On the opening day of New Zealand’s Somme campaign, 15 September 1916, Brown charged and captured key enemy machine-gun positions, helping New Zealand forces to push through German lines. He was killed just over two weeks later, during another attack on the Somme front. Read more
Donald Brown, 1916
Date of action: 15 September 1916 (near Flers, France)
Date of award: 14 June 1917 (posthumous award)
Sergeant Donald Brown was the 1NZEF’s first VC winner on the Western Front. On the opening day of New Zealand’s Somme campaign, 15 September 1916, Brown charged and captured key enemy machine-gun positions, helping New Zealand forces to push through German lines. He was killed just over two weeks later, during another attack on the Somme front. Read more